


The Trouble With Slavers

by shepardly



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Quite a lot of hurt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-12
Updated: 2015-08-17
Packaged: 2018-04-14 08:10:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4557171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shepardly/pseuds/shepardly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Normandy picks up a signal from a colony under attack by batarian slavers. Shepard and her team step in to shut the slavers down, but it doesn't take long for the situation to blow up in her face - but hey, just another day in the life of the Commander, right?</p><p>Takes place during ME3.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Jane Shepard was sure that she had just closed her eyes when her omnitool started pinging, signalling an urgent message from Joker. It had been an exhausting day of cleaning out yet another Cerberus base to retrieve stolen Alliance resources that were desperately needed for the building of the Crucible, and she wanted nothing more than to get a solid six hours of sleep. Peeling sticky eyelids open, Shepard was able to blearily confirm that it had, indeed, only been 20 minutes. To top it off, this was a message on an official line between Joker and herself, further indicating that this was an important one.

“Shepard…” Garrus groaned, voice thick with sleep. The bed shifted as he rolled over, blindly reaching for her, but Jane had already moved to sit on the edge of the bed. “Just ignore it, come back to bed.”

“Sorry G, have to take this one.” Shepard leaned over and planted a kiss on his forehead. “Go back to sleep.”

“Mmm.” Garrus grumped, but appeared to be sliding back into sleep even as she stood, a clear sign of his exhaustion. It really was tempting to just ignore the message and climb back into her warm, cozy bed for some much deserved rest, but Jane wasn’t about to leave her pilot hanging.

Shepard climbed the steps up to her desk and plopped down in her chair before responding to the hail, double checking that it was audio only. She did not need to give Joker an eyeful of her underwear.

“What’s up, Joker?”

“Hey Commander, sorry for waking you.” Joker actually sounded contrite, which only spiked Shepard’s alarm even more. “But I’ve got something here that you're gonna want to see.”

Stifling a sigh, Shepard stood and reached for her civvies that had been abandoned by the washroom door. “Be right there, Joker.”

———

Five minutes later, Shepard was in the cockpit, only slightly more awake than when the hail first came in.

“What have we got?”

“Nothing good, Commander. We just picked up an emergency distress signal coming from a nearby planet,” Joker paused to look up the name, “A place called Espoth. From what EDI can figure, it’s coming from a human colony that’s under attack by Batarian slavers.”

That caught Shepard’s attention.

“What’s our ETA?”

“EDI and I figured you’d be interested, so I already took the liberty of altering course.” Joker’s cheer had a sense of falseness to it. “We’ll arrive before the day shift starts.”

“Good work. I’ll ready a squad.” Shepard was already mentally debating on who to wake as she turned to leave the cockpit.

“Commander?”

Shepard paused at the doorway to look at her pilot, who had spun his chair to face her. Jeff looked like he was about to say something, but hesitated, and seemed to change his mind.

“Good luck down there.”

Shepard offered a thin smile and patted a bulkhead. “Thanks, Joker. Take care of her while I’m gone.”

“Aye aye, Commander.”

———

In the end, Shepard decided on taking Garrus and Tali. The quarian hadn’t been on the last mission, leaving her more rested, and the turian refused to be left behind, even when Shepard suggested taking Vega instead.

“Besides,” Garrus insisted, “You haven’t gotten any more sleep than I have, and I don’t need as much sleep anyways. Someone needs to watch your six.”

Despite her concerns, Shepard was grateful to have them both along; it just felt right to have her old team at her side.

As Cortez brought the shuttle in for landing, Shepard’s heart sank. The human colony was obviously a settlement; evidence of farming and infrastructure littered the plains that butted up to large rocky mountains. Smoke billowed from nearly every building in sight, but nothing else moved. The emergency beacon was located a few miles into the mountains, and a flyover revealed a large facility of some sort built into the side of a mountain above a raging river.

“Bring us in, Cortez. This is the origin of the signal, so we better check it out here first.”

As the shuttle pilot brought the ship down, Shepard turned to her squad.

“What’s our play, Shepard?” Garrus was the one to ask the strategy question, as per usual.

“We go in, find the source of the beacon, and retrieve as many survivors as possible. I’m not picking up any Batarian ship readings, and it’s likely that they've taken what they want and left already, but there could be stragglers.” Shepard swallowed hard, fighting to keep her voice steady. “Still, I don’t want anyone taking any chances.”

“Understood, Shepard.” Tali seemed at ease, but had her shotgun ready for action.

———

The facility, as large as it was, was eerily empty. Alarms were ringing loudly, and some of the overhead sprinkler systems were activated as various pieces of damaged lab equipment smoked. Lights only flickered erratically, and the blood red emergency lighting leant a grim setting to the scene. There were signs of conflict throughout the building, but only traces of blood were to be found. Shepard quickly led her team through a perimeter sweep, passing through empty labs and long stretches of balcony that encircled the building. If the mission were not so pressing, Shepard knew that she would be tempted to stop and take in the view of mountains around and river below, with the plains just visible in the distance.

They pressed on, moving towards the heart of the facility and to the source of the emergency beacon. They found the computer banks easily enough, but it was also where they found the first body.

The scientist had obviously been the one to activate the emergency beacon, as blood streaked the console as her body had slid to the floor. The computer was locked down, making it impossible - at least to the average hacker - to shut down the beacon.

“Tali, can you take a look and see if you can’t get into the system?” Shepard was still on edge and hadn’t let her assault rifle down once. “At least shut this noise off, and find out what happened here exactly.”

“Right.” Tali leaned her shotgun against the console and immediately set to work. It only took her moments to shut the alarms off, and even managed to reboot the system to get the normal lighting back on, for the most part. “This is where it gets tricky now, Shepard. It might take me a few minutes to get in to the information we’re looking for. However, I’m picking up an interesting reading on the other side of the facility that you might want to check out. I’m not exactly sure what it could be, but it may prove to be useful resources.”

“Alright, Tali, you stay here and do what you can. Garrus and I will do one more sweep around your position to make sure it’s clear before we go check it out.”

The sweep didn’t pick up anything unusual, so Garrus and Shepard were quickly on their way to the resources. Within ten minutes they found the stash, which turned out to be refined platinum, and tagged it for pickup.

“I’ll just be a few more minutes, Shepard.” Tali updated the Commander over the comms.

“Thanks, Tali. See you in a few.” Jane actually relaxed enough to let her assault rifle down, although she did keep her right hand near the trigger. The fact that they had found no survivors was troubling her. She had been hoping for at least a few people who had managed to hide, and could possibly shine some more light on the situation, but there was no one.

Her troubled thoughts must have found their way into her expression, because Garrus reached out and gave her shoulder a gentle nudge.

“Shepard, relax. We haven’t checked the settlement yet; we’re bound to find someone there.”

Jane snorted, but managed to crack a grin at him. “Are you a mind reader now?”

“Don’t need to be a mind reader when I can read you like an open book.” Garrus grinned back, mandibles flaring. Making up her mind, Shepard grabbed his hand and led him towards the balcony.

“C’mon, let’s go check out that view before we head back to Tali.”

They were walking up to the guardrail when Tali came on the comms again.

“Shepard!” Tali’s voice was nearing shrill.

“Go ahead, Tali.” Shepard instantly had her hand to her ear, all senses on high alert.

“This facility has a self destruct, and it’s been running in the background! You need to get out of-”

A massive explosion suddenly rocked the balcony, the floor heaving beneath Garrus and Shepard’s feet. Jane staggered and fell against the guardrail, grabbing on for dear life as everything shook and roared around her. Another explosion, closer this time, seemed to go off from the doorway that they had just come through.

Garrus must have been right behind her, because the next thing she knew was a heavy body slamming against her, actually breaking the guardrail before they were plummeting over the edge and towards the river some 60 feet below.

Jane could only catch glimpses of sky, grey mountains, and Garrus' desert armour as they tumbled through thin air.


	2. Chapter 2

Hitting the water was a lesson in pain. For a moment, Jane thought that they had completely missed the river and smashed into the rocks instead, but then she was flailing and trying to suck in air and getting nothing but water. She had no idea which way was up, and the rushing water was doing its best to keep her from figuring it out.

Several long moments later, her head broke the surface. Jane coughed and sputtered and gasped for air, blinking water from her eyes and weakly trying to keep her face above the surface. The river was a raging, merciless beast; waves lapped against her face and the current was pulling her at breakneck speeds towards rocks, along with large logs that were also caught in it’s grip. It was so cold, Jane could feel her teeth wanting to chatter already.

_Garrus!_ Shepard craned her neck, trying to catch a glimpse of the turian. She tried to yell, but a another wave splashed into her face as she was sucking in a breath, causing her to cough and sputter some more. She slammed into a rock, and the current spun her around and pulled her down again. _No! I am not dying like this._

Shepard saw another rock underwater, speeding towards her, and managed to manoeuvre herself so that her feet connected first, and she used it to launch herself to the surface again.

“Vakarian!” Jane managed to yell this time, but she could hardly hear herself over the roar of the river. A glimpse of desert armour and webbing suddenly caught her eye, only about 20 feet ahead of her, but rapidly sinking out of sight. Shepard kicked off another rock, pushing herself towards where she had seen the flash of colour, and sucked in a massive breath before ducking under the water.

Garrus appeared to be unconscious, not even stirring as the current dragged him along. Shepard managed to wrap her right arm over his right shoulder from behind and across his chest, then slammed her fist against her omnitool to wake it and activate a program that Mordin had installed as a joke, what seemed like ages ago. Her right gauntlet tightened against Garrus’ chest plate as it magnetized, making it near impossible to free it. Once secured, Shepard pushed them towards the surface again.

It was awkward trying to hold herself and someone else above the water, but Shepard refused to give up.

“Garrus. Garrus!” Jane practically screamed in his ear, trying to get a response. The turian didn’t move, his chin resting on his chest.

The river suddenly seemed to pick up even more speed, and the roar was getting louder. A sense of dread filled Jane, and she struggled to turn to see where the river was going.

The river seemed to end, going into thin air. The drop was coming, and quickly.

Jane rolled onto her left side and began kicking desperately, headed for shore. _Come on, come on,_ _**COME ON.**_

It wasn’t enough.

They were falling again, tumbling head over heels. Shepard only managed to hang on to Garrus thanks to the magnetized gauntlet. The waterfall wasn’t as long as the initial fall into the water, but it was still a shock to the system when they smacked into the water at the bottom. Shepard felt them being shoved down to the bottom of the river, and thankfully recalled a survival vid she had seen once in school as a kid. Waterfalls had a bad habit of catching debris and other hubris in a watermill underwater, effectively drowning anyone who simply tried to swim away from it. Shepard let the water drag them down, and once they reached the bottom, she shoved them along with the current along the bottom, freeing them from the cycle of water.

Once they broke the surface again, Shepard could only lie back, keeping her own and Garrus’ faces above the surface as she gasped for air. She didn’t linger long though, as Garrus had yet to move or show any other signs of life.

The river had calmed considerably now that they had made it over the waterfall. It was still a rapid current, but the dull roar of the waterfall was quickly fading behind them. Shepard was able to make it to shore, only demagnetizing the gauntlet once she managed to drag Garrus into the shallows. A couple more tugs and he was mostly on shore, only his lower legs left in the icy water.

Turian armour wasn’t built to let the occupant lie flat on their back, so Shepard laid him so he rested mostly on his left shoulder. She thanked the Spirits that she had had Chakwas teach her basic first aid for all the different races she had on her team, and quickly turned Garrus’ head so that any water that may have reached his lungs could drain.

It was only then that Shepard had to admit to herself that Garrus was in real trouble. A jagged piece of metal stuck out from the right side of his chest plate, high and close to the shoulder.

“Shit. _Shit._ ” Shepard said with feeling. She quickly checked for a pulse, and cursed again when she realized it was far too fast and beginning to fail. He wasn’t breathing.

Shepard quickly unclasped the cowl of his armour from the chest plate, and carefully freed it from the metal that had gone straight through the armour and his base layer and into his chest. She accidentally bumped the metal a few times as she struggled to get the armour off, but she had to get access to his chest if she wanted to get him breathing again. It had to hurt like hell, but he didn’t even twitch as she threw the cowl and chest plate to the side with a clang, leaving his chest covered only by his base layer.

“C’mon, Garrus,” Shepard muttered, quickly arranging his limp arms to give her better access, trying to ignore the blue blood that was still leaking at an alarming rate from his injury. “You can’t die now, because I’m going to kill you myself for jumping in front of me.”

The turian version of CPR was thankfully not completely unlike the humans, but required more force thanks to his carapace. It took far too long, but Garrus was finally coughing up what seemed like half the river. Shepard rolled him more onto his side and held him as he coughed and shuddered before finally sucking in a huge breath. Within moments, he was breathing heavily but otherwise normally.

“Garrus, can you hear me?” Shepard rolled him onto his back/shoulder again and cradled his face in her hands, stroking his good mandible with her fingers. “Vakarian, wake up.”

He didn’t respond, deeply unconscious. Shepard ejected her packs of medi-gel from her armour, but to her despair only one of the four tubes had survived. She cracked it open and applied it around the metal in Garrus’ chest, praying to whoever was listening that they would be picked up before he would need more.

Satisfied that she had done all she could for the major injury, Jane activated her omnitool - it sputtered when she called it up, but seemed functional - and scanned Garrus, cataloguing injuries. Besides the obvious metal-in-the-chest that thankfully hadn't hit anything major, he had also somehow badly sprained his right wrist, had a small fracture in his left spur, and was just generally bruised and banged to hell all over. Even though it was small, Shepard knew that the fracture in his spur would hurt like blazes when he woke up.

Shepard sat back on her heels, taking in their equipment situation as well as surroundings. She had lost her assault rifle somewhere, but her Mantis sniper rifle and pistol had stayed put in their magnetic holsters. Garrus' assault was also gone, but his prized Black Widow remained.

They had come ashore in an area where the river actually created a bit of a pool before continuing on. Fir trees grew close to the shore, giant specimens that seemed to block out the sky. Even standing right on the edge of the river, Shepard couldn’t see a beginning or end to the river or trees in either direction, thanks to soaring mountains and curves in the river.

“Shepard to Tali, do you read?” Shepard keyed her comm. Static was her only response. Despair began creeping in. Tali had been fairly deep in the facility. There was a chance that she may have gotten out in time, but the staticky signal wasn't doing anything to kindle that hope. “Shepard to Normandy, please come in.”

Jane cursed when she was met with only static yet again. Dammit. Mountains must be scrambling the signal.

First things first, Shepard concluded. She had to find shelter, get a fire going to ward off the cold she could feel creeping through her bones (it would be worse for Garrus, an inner voice reminded her), and treat his injuries as best as possible. The ideal plan would be to follow the river towards the plains, where they could hopefully get a comm signal or flag down a shuttle from the Normandy, who would surely be searching for them soon if they weren't already. But with Garrus injured and unconscious, Shepard knew there was no way she could move him that far by herself.

A quick survey proved that a proper shelter would more than likely not be possible. The land simply sloped up until it reached the rocky face of the mountain. There might be caves further up, but it was too far to drag Garrus. Shepard decided on a large fir tree nearby. Despite its high limbs, the heavy ends of the branches swept low, providing a makeshift roof and protection from the wind. There would still be enough ventilation for a fire, much to her relief.

Walking back to Garrus, Shepard could see that he had stirred slightly. His head had turned more, and the dirt was disturbed where his talons had scraped.

“Garrus? Garrus, can you hear me?”

His breath caught and he groaned softly, but he didn’t wake. Jane took a few minutes to dig out a small roll of medical tape (thank the Spirits for Chakwas insistence on all armour being packed full of as much medical supplies as possible - however they were going to have to do something more for medi-gel tube shock protection) and taped up his fractured spur, using a couple straight sticks she had found as makeshift splints. Once done, Shepard carefully took him under his arms - by the Spirits he was heavy - and dragged him towards the tree.

Halfway there, Garrus’ breath hitched again. Before she could do or say anything, he gasped and let out a moan, body twitching in her arms.

“Hey, hey, Garrus, I’ve got you.” Shepard let him down and quickly stepped around so she could see his face. His eyes were only half open and rolling, not seeming to see anything, but when she placed her hand on his mandible his gaze snapped to hers.

“Shep- Shepard-” His voice was rough, and his breathing was far too similar to the time he had taken a rocket to the face on Omega. Fortunately, the gurgling was from water this time, not blood.

“Don’t move, Garrus. It’s okay, you’ll be okay.”

He gave up on trying to get right onto his feet, but was still blearily trying to sit up to see his shoulder. Shepard pressed a hand to the shoulder that didn’t have metal sticking out of it. Garrus couldn’t seem to hold still, writhing in pain and beginning to shiver from the cold.

More blood was pouring from around the metal. If anything, it seemed to be getting worse.

Shepard quickly pulled her gauntlet off, tearing off her base layer sleeve, and packed the fabric around the piece of metal. Garrus cried out, legs scuffing in the dirt as he writhed, and he nearly screamed in pain when his left spur touched the ground. Shepard tried to hold him as still as she could, murmuring a litany of useless words, but they eventually seemed to calm him somewhat. Garrus managed to slow the panicked gasps to measured breaths through gritted teeth, but he still felt rigid under her hands.

"No- medi-gel?" Garrus knew that there had to be something wrong, considering the amount of pain he was in.

"Didn't survive the fall." Shepard was still kicking herself over that. "Sorry, big guy."

Garrus managed a nod, and cringed even at that movement, but didn't comment.

“Garrus, I need to move you into shelter.” Shepard explained when she felt he was sufficiently calmed and seemed more aware of his surroundings. “There’s a tree nearby, we’re almost there. I’ll get a fire started and get us warmed up. But it’s going to hurt. I’m sorry.”

“It’s- okay.” Garrus managed to grit out. “Just- hurry.”

Moving quickly, Shepard dragged him the rest of the way under the tree. By the time she got him settled with his head propped up on one of the roots, Garrus was shaking uncontrollably and gasping for air between coughing fits.

Concern told her to stay with him, to comfort him as best as she could. Practicality said she needed to get a fire going ASAP. Her own body was aching from the day's events, and going by the chill in the air she knew the coming night would not be a pleasant one. Shepard pressed a kiss to Garrus' forehead and stroked his mandible in a silent plea to remain still, to be okay, before going to collect wood and the chest piece that she had removed from his armour by the riverside.

While collecting wood for a fire, Shepard checked the comms frequently. There didn’t seem to be a signal whatsoever, making her wonder if it was a natural or man-made phenomenon. Her concern wasn't for the Normandy so much, but for Tali. The quarian could be in a similar situation, but alone. Hopefully, though, her comms wouldn't be blocked and a shuttle would have retrieved her. She refused to think of a third and more terrible option that may have happened.

Jane made several trips for firewood, as night was coming on quickly and she knew there was a very good chance that they would be there all night. Exhaustion was quickly catching up with her, and she had a stitch in her side, but she stubbornly pressed on.

Shepard quickly cleared an area on the dirt and placed rocks from the river in a ring, then piled some of the wood in the midst with some twigs and dead grass she had pulled from around the tree. She pulled her compact emergency kit from her belt and breathed a sigh of relief when it proved to be intact, the lighter within functional. It only took a few moments of coaxing before the fire was warming their shelter.

Confident that the fire wouldn’t be going out at any moment, Shepard turned her attention back to Garrus. To her surprise, he had been watching her through half hooded eyes, his good arm crossed across his chest as he attempted to hold the bandage around the metal in place.

“How’re you holding up?” She asked softly, gently removing his hand to check the bandage, but she gave him a sharp look. “And don’t lie to me, Vakarian.”

He let out a short ‘ha’, and looked like he immediately regretted it. He swallowed hard before attempting to answer her.

“Doesn’t feel too good, if that’s what you want to know.” Garrus admitted, wincing when she peeled a section of the bandage back to see if the bleeding had slowed at all. He sounded exhausted. “Um. And it’s cold. I’m cold.”

“Do you think you could handle moving a bit closer to the fire?”

Garrus had to seriously consider it for a few seconds, trying to decide if the pain of moving would be worth it to be warmer, but decided that it would be. He gave a short nod, and let Shepard help him into a sitting position. That movement alone had him gasping, and he started shivering even harder.

"Okay, don't try to move anymore. I'm just going to drag you closer. I'll try to be fast." Shepard was rambling- her nervous habit- but she had to wonder if he was hearing any of it.

He was favouring his right arm, but she couldn't tell if it was because of the metal in that shoulder or the nasty wrist sprain. Jane doubted that either could be feeling too great, and realized that she needed to do something to immobilize that arm. His desert armour actually had some webbing on it, mostly for holding extra ammo and grenades, but would also work well as a makeshift sling. Jane undid the buckles, adding the extra ammo and grenades to her own inventory, and adjusted straps until Garrus' right arm was firmly held across his chest.

Garrus never said a word the entire time, his breathing harsh and eyes glazed. Jane wasn't sure how much he was aware of, but instead of trying to snap him out of the daze he seemed to be in, she decided to get the move over with first.

It was only about 5 steps, but it felt like the longest 5 steps of her life. Garrus had gone rigid, although he was still trembling, and he was clearly gritting his teeth in an effort to not cry out. When Shepard decided they were close enough to the fire, she let him down as gently as she could, settling herself on the ground with her back against a small boulder, so his head rested on her thigh.

Shepard gently ran her hand over Garrus' forehead and crest for a few long minutes. The turian hadn't opened his eyes again, and was still shuddering and gasping in pain. Jane carefully inspected the injury in his shoulder again, and stripped off her other gauntlet to rip that sleeve off as well, adding it to the previous makeshift bandage. There was still far too much blue blood making its way out of his body, although it had slowed considerably. Hopefully it would stop completely, soon.

The gauntlets weren't as comfortable without the base layer, but Shepard put them back on anyway. She wanted to be ready for anything, and they did help keep the elements off her bare arms. It was dark by now, and the fire created a comfortable glow in the shelter. Shepard unholstered her pistol and set it down nearby. She wasn't sure what kind of wildlife inhabited these mountains, but she wasn't about to get caught unawares.

Garrus' breathing had calmed down considerably, and the shudders had died down to tiny tremors that only shook him occasionally. Shepard thought he had fallen asleep or possibly unconscious, but he opened his eyes and looked up at her between slow and heavy blinks.

"You with me, Garrus?" Shepard placed her hand on his forehead again, and was alarmed to feel that he was considerably cooler than he normally was. It took another moment, but Garrus was finally able to respond.

"The light... makes you look like an angel." Garrus managed to drawl groggily. Shepard didn't even try to smother the smirk, relieved that he was his usual suave self.

"Are you hitting on me, Vakarian? While injured and stranded in the woods?"

"Nah, can't be doing that. I already seduced this amazing girl back on my ship and I'd hate to blow it with her."

"Is that so?" Shepard grinned, running the flat of her palm over his crest. Garrus let out a contented hum as his eyes drifted shut before continuing.

"Yeah, its pretty serious, too. But she's been under some pressure lately. They call her Commander of the Normandy, Saviour of the Citadel." Garrus turned serious and opened his eyed again. "Bit of a hero complex. Thinks she has to save everyone."

"I try my best." Jane said airily, but her heart was heavy. "Everyone is worth saving. Some have higher priority at the moment, however."

"Shepard, I-" Garrus hesitated, then switched gears. "Will you promise me something?"

"Promise what?"

"Tomorrow, when the sun is up, go without me. Follow the river to the plains and try to get through to the Normandy. They might already be searching for us, maybe pick you up before then."

“You must have hit your head as well. I'm not leaving you." Shepard said, even as she thought of how she should be going back to look for Tali. If the quarian didn't show up by midday tomorrow, Shepard would go back to look for her.

"Shepard, I'm serious." Garrus pointedly looked down at the metal in his shoulder and the arm bound across his chest, "I'm just going to slow you down like this."

"I don't care how slow we go, I'm taking you with me." Jane held up a hand when he looked like he was going to protest, "We have time. This way, Tali has a chance at catching up to us if she's following. But even if she isn't, do you really think Joker is going to let anyone give up on searching until he has hard evidence either way?"

Garrus considered this, and reluctantly nodded. "Fine, have it your way."

They fell quiet for a moment, each lost in thought. Jane could feel herself slipping into la-la land, but snapped out of it when Garrus broke the silence.

"But seriously, scrap metal aside, do you think that line would work on my girlfriend?"

Shepard laughed, but slapped a hand over her mouth when it sounded too loud in the enclosed area of the shelter.

"To be honest, the bleeding is putting a damper on things." Shepard answered once she had collected herself from the fit of giggles. Garrus made a face.

"Oh, come on, its just a flesh wound. You never let me have any fun." Garrus complained, but his mandibles were flared in a turian grin. Shepard smiled back, but he immediately noticed that it didn't quite reach her eyes. Garrus reached up with his free hand and took hers. "Hey, look, it's gonna be okay. Tomorrow we're gonna find Tali and get off this rock."

"I hope you're right." Shepard adjusted her aching body against the rock, looking for a position just a bit more comfortable. It didn't work. "In the meantime, you should get some rest. You'll need your strength for tomorrow."

"Yes, mom." Garrus already looked like he was halfway asleep anyway. "Wake me in a few hours and I'll keep an eye out while you catch some shut eye."

"Deal." Shepard promised.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all, thought I should maybe say hello as we continue on here. This is my very first fanfic that I have ever uploaded, but I'm not even going to confess how many I have had sitting around on my drives for the last decade. Thank you for your comments and kudos! It made me way more giddy than I could have anticipated, and now I'm nervously hoping that everyone will continue to enjoy!
> 
> Thanks for your support!

Jane could feel someone shaking her shoulder, but their voice was muffled and far away. Everything hurt, and yet she felt removed from it, as if she were wrapped in her blanket and tucked up in her bed. She wasn't sure how long she remained like that, but she knew she couldn't stay there for forever.

Opening her eyes took a massive effort, and even then they quickly grew heavy and slid shut again. She was suddenly aware that she was lying on cold, hard dirt, and that it was Garrus calling her name.

"Come on, Shepard, wake up." Shepard felt his hand move from her shoulder to her face, where he gently stroked her cheek and forehead. "Please, Jane. You have to be okay."

Jane managed to pry her eyes open again and looked at her boyfriend blearily. It had somehow become day already.

"Shepard, can you hear me?" Garrus sounded worried. He was lying awkwardly on his side, the metal still jutting from his shoulder. Jane realized that she had simply toppled over where she had been sitting with his head in her lap.

Shepard tried to push herself upright, but pain suddenly shot through her torso, forcing a sharp cry from her. Garrus worriedly grabbed her shoulder, either to keep her still or as a gesture of comfort. Possibly both. Breathing through the pain, Jane managed to get her eyes open again.

"Shepard, you're injured. Why the hell didn't you tell me?"

"What? No, I'm fine." Jane tried to move again, but had to give up when the pain shot through her again. "Must've dented my armour, probably just a bruise."

Garrus took a deep breath, and somehow managed to get upright with only one free arm. Jane tried to speak, to stop him, but he had already moved her so that he could lean heavily against the rock that had previously been her back rest. She couldn't seem to make her body work properly, and soon found herself being moved onto her back. Everything was fading in and out, but she was only vaguely aware of Garrus popping the seals on her armour and stripping the plates from her torso. It was when he pulled on the flexible material that protected her from ribs to hips that the pain lit up again.

Jane gasped and clenched her teeth around a groan as Garrus cursed. Cold air hit her skin as he peeled her black base suit from her side where the pain seemed to be originating. She lifted her head to look at the damage, but she only caught a glimpse of blood and dark bruising before Garrus was pressing something against the wound.

"Dented armour, Shepard? Are you for real?" Garrus bemoaned. "How could you have not noticed yourself bleeding out inside your armour?"

"It's not that bad..."

"If we had medi-gel, I would agree with that statement. But we don't have medi-gel, so this is very bad."

Instead of arguing, Jane pulled up her omnitool and ran a scan. It confirmed what she suspected: the wound wasn't deep enough to damage any internal organs, and if there was anything still remaining in the wound it was too small for her omnitool to pick up. She was losing a fair amount of blood, but now that Garrus had found something to staunch it, she wasn't in any immediate danger.

"See, look. I'll be fine. Probably got hit with something small enough to get through the weave in the first explosion." Jane turned the display so that Garrus could see. "Just help me get my armour back on, it'll hold the bandage in place until I can get it properly treated."

Garrus huffed, obviously not happy, but helped her reseal her armour. Now that she was better prepared, Shepard was able to get herself upright. The bandage stayed in place inside her armour, and the pressure actually helped with the pain a bit. She was feeling more clear headed, her base layer had dried out, and she was even feeling ready for the hike she knew they had in front of them. The sun was just coming up, hopefully giving them ample time to make it to the plains.

"Are you okay?" Garrus sounded strained.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Jane turned to help him up, but realized that he was listing dangerously to the side.

"Okay good, 'cuz I think I'm about to make this all about me again." Garrus tried to joke, even as Shepard caught him and eased him back down.

Garrus' breathing was harsh and hitched, and his heart was racing.

"Crap. Garrus, just hang in there." Shepard could only hold him, feeling helpless as he shook and struggled to breathe. It took several long minutes, but he finally managed to get the pain and breathing under control. Garrus grabbed Shepard's elbow, and spoke through gritted teeth.

"Shep- Shepard, you have to get me up now. Otherwise I don't know when I'll be able to get up again."

Looking into his pained eyes, Shepard could see that he wasn't kidding. She had no idea how far he could actually make it in his condition, or how much or how long she could help him with her own injury, but they had to try.

"Okay, let's get you up, G."

It took most of her strength to haul him to his feet, but he actually managed to stay on his feet, swaying as it was. It took a moment to figure out a position to help support him without touching the metal in his chest, but once they had that sorted they were on their way.

It was slow going, but they steadily made their way along the river towards the plains. Garrus actually seemed to get a bit stronger, but still needed to lean fairly heavily on Shepard. The fracture in his spur caused him to limp as well, but he never spoke a word of complaint.

It was late afternoon when they heard a shout behind them. Garrus nearly tripped as they tried to turn to look, so Shepard helped him sit on a boulder on the river bank before turning to investigate. A grin broke across her face when she saw who it was.

"Tali!" Shepard waved back, feeling a heavy load of worry lifting from her shoulders. The quarian waved once more before quickly picking her way through the boulders in that section of river bank. "See, what did I tell you, Garrus?"

Tali arrived within minutes of them initially spotting each other. She nearly leapt at Shepard to deliver a bear hug (with several exclamations of "you're alive!" and "are you hurt? Are you alright?" from both), and quickly turned with concern to Garrus.

"Keelah! Can I not leave you two alone for more than 5 minutes?" Tali fussed as she pulled two tubes of medi-gel from her suit and moved to apply them to Garrus' shoulder.

"Take care- of Shepard first. She's wounded." Garrus tried to wave her off.

"Garrus, I'm fine. You, on the other hand, are bleeding rather heavily again." Shepard gestured towards the soaked makeshift bandages that were sopping wet around the metal. Between the two of them, Shepard and Tali moved Garrus so he was sitting on the ground and leaning back on the boulder.

Tali pulled up her omnitool and ran a scan, then cut a slit in Garrus' base suit to reveal more of his chest. Shepard inwardly cringed when she saw the extensive bruising that was beginning to darken his skin.

Tali worked quickly, and soon had the bleeding stopped. The metal was still an ugly reality, but she had given them more time to get back to the Normandy.

"Thanks, Tali. That feels much better." Shepard was relieved to hear the sincerity in Garrus' voice as he thanked the young admiral. If he was genuinely feeling better, they could hopefully put a couple more miles in that day.

"Tali, have you had any luck with comms?" Jane checked her omnitool again, with no success.

"No, I believe the signals are being intentionally jammed. From where, I couldn't tell you. But since the facility was all but destroyed, it's probably a safe bet that the jammer is somewhere in the settlement on the plains."

"Agreed. I saved a map of the area to my local drive, let me see if I can pull it up and see how far we are." It took a couple false starts, but Shepard managed to pull up the map on her damaged omnitool. "There's no way to see where we are exactly, but if I had to guess... I'd say we're around here." She pointed at a spot that put them over halfway out of the mountains, but not quite halfway to the settlement. Upon more studying of the map, Tali agreed with Shepard's assessment.

"We won't make the settlement tonight, but let's try to get to the plains by nightfall, at least." Shepard decided.

"Good plan. We should get moving."

With Tali and Shepard able to take turns helping Garrus, they were able to pick up some speed even while taking regular breaks. The day seemed to pass by quickly, and the sun was just beginning to set when they finally saw the open, grassy plains.

Before Shepard could make the suggestion of camping in the woods again for better access to firewood and shelter, something stung her neck with a small vhip sound. Her hand fumbled at her throat, searching for what had stung her, but she had a sinking feeling that she knew what it had been. Her vision was darkening at the edges and her hearing was muffled, but she could hear Garrus shouting, voice laced with concern.

"Run..." Shepard wasn't entirely sure if the word had made it from her lips in one piece, but it was all she could offer as she pitched head first into darkness.


	4. Chapter 4

This was not the most pleasant awakening experience that she had ever had, Shepard decided. It definitely wasn't the worst, as it would take a hell of a lot to beat waking in a cold, strange medical lab with bones and skin threatening to disintegrate while a disembodied voice shouted at her to get up, but it definitely did not rate in her top ten either.

Someone let out a pathetic moan, and it took a moment before she realized with some embarrassment that it was herself. Her arms and shoulders were aching, and it took several more drunken deductions to figure out that she was hanging from her bound wrists.

Wait. Garrus. Tali.

Shepard's eyes snapped open and she blearily searched her surroundings for her teammates.

She was in a large room that looked like a storage area in a warehouse, presumedly located in the settlement. There was a bright light somewhere right above her head, but the rest of the large room was in shadows. Shepard hoped the building was in the settlement, and not on another planet or something. She had no idea how long she had been unconscious, but she hoped it hadn't been for long. There was a table nearby on her left, and she could see her weapons, ammo, omnitool, and what looked like all of her upper armour lying on it. Looking down at herself confirmed that yes, she was only wearing her base layer (sans sleeves) from the waist up, but they had been kind enough (or too lazy to do anything about them) to leave her leg plates and boots on. Then again, they were putting even more weight on her already strained arms and shoulders as her toes dangled at least 6 inches above the ground.

Garrus was crumpled on the ground in front of her off to the right, looking like he had been dragged in and dropped. His armour looked strange without the chest piece, somehow making him look smaller. He had also been relieved of his weapons, and his wrists were bound in front of him, which did not look comfortable for someone with a chunk of metal stuck in their chest. There was no sign of Tali, and Shepard fervently hoped that she had escaped capture.

Garrus stirred, and his eyes blearily blinked open. His breath caught, most likely due to the pain finally catching up to a drug-induced haze. Garrus saw her and started to struggle, trying to get up, just as a door at the far end of the room opened. Shepard frantically shook her head at him, hoping he would get the message, and he thankfully caught on, slumping back to the ground and feigning unconsciousness.

"So, the great Commander Shepard comes to a backwater planet." A batarian voice boomed out as three shadowy figures made their way towards the captured pair. One of the figures was much bigger than the other two and obviously krogan, while the other two were batarian. The batarian that lead the group stepped into the light and smirked at Shepard. "Care to explain why?"

"If you know who I am and have any extranet access, you know exactly why I'm here." Shepard growled. Her past was not a secret anymore. Practically every media outlet in the galaxy had found out about her history on Mindoir and were waving it around in everyone's face, as if it was something to be proud of.

"Maybe I do." The batarian allowed, cracking his knuckles inside his armoured gloves. "But let me introduce myself. They call me Berke." The batarian had stepped within range, and delivered a brutal blow to Shepard's left eye.

Shepard's head spun from the blow, but she managed to keep a straight face as she lifted her head to glare at Berke, ignoring the sting as blood dripped from where her eyebrow had split.

"And to what do I owe this pleasure, Berke?"

Another blow struck her on the right side of her face. Her tongue automatically ran over her teeth; nothing broken or missing, but a touch loose. The smirk hadn't left the batarian's face yet.

"Do your worst, I have nothing to say to scum like you." Shepard snarled, and spit the coppery taste of blood into Berke's face. The batarian's face twisted into something ugly as he angrily signalled his two bodyguards, who then stepped up with their intentions written clearly in their body language.

"Don't kill her yet." Berke ordered, "But remind her who's in charge here."

The krogan's fist landed square in her gut, knocking all the wind from her. She had forgotten about the wound to her side, but the punch definitely reminded her of it. The batarian bodyguard put a few heavy blows in as well, surprising her with his speed and ferocity.

 _Garrus, please stay down, please stay down..._ The mantra ran through her head, but she had a sinking feeling that he wasn't going to.

Sure enough, Garrus was suddenly on his feet and lunging at Berke. Within seconds he had somehow wrestled the slaver's knife off of him, despite his injuries. Berke was roaring in fury, and the krogan and bodyguard turned to look at the commotion, but Shepard swung her body and latched her legs around the batarian's neck in a stranglehold.

But despite their best efforts, it wasn't enough. The krogan stomped over to where Garrus was still wrestling with Berke, and slammed a heavy fist into the back of the turian's head.

Shepard shouted in rage, just as she felt the batarian bodyguard in her stranglehold go limp. She viciously tightened her grip, making sure he would stay down, before kicking him away. Jane struggled wildly, but there was no loosening her bindings.

Berke was sauntering back towards her, wiping a small trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth. The krogan followed him, dragging Garrus by the nape of his armour.

"You might as well kill me now, Berke." Shepard goaded, trying to rile him into getting close again. "You know you'll never get anything from me."

"Oh, I think you'll change your mind, Commander." Berke was grinning even wider now, walking towards the table that held her equipment, as well as another tray covered in a towel. Shepard braced herself for the pain she knew was coming.

But instead of uncovering the tray of what undoubtedly had to be torture tools, Berke gestured for the krogan to drag Garrus closer.

Shepard's heart nearly stopped. Surely he wouldn't...

They propped the unconscious turian up against a table leg, and Berke went about trying to bring him around.

"No... No! Leave him alone! It's me you want!" Shepard was struggling so hard it felt like she was on the verge of dislocating her shoulder. "Leave him!"

Berke waved something in front of Garrus' face, and he suddenly snapped awake, head thrown back with a gasp and blinking rapidly. Before Garrus could fully comprehend what was going on, Berke had grasped the piece of metal in his chest and slowly pulled it free, Shepard shouting her rage all the while in the background.

Garrus couldn't even scream. He could only stare up at the batarian, eyes wide, feeling like his chest was caught in a vice while a strangled moan was ripped from him along with the metal. He had known that the jagged metal had embedded itself fairly deep into his shoulder, but the blood stained shard looked impossibly long. It felt like an age before he was able to tear his eyes away and look down at where the blood was pooling around him at an alarming rate.

He could vaguely hear Shepard screaming, but she sounded far away. His ears were roaring, his vision was narrowing. It was so hard to breathe.

Shepard kept struggling, even though she knew it was useless. The bindings were too tight and strong, and she couldn't get any leverage with her feet dangling above the ground. Berke threw the bloodied piece of metal aside, and turned towards Shepard— 

Just as the room was plunged into darkness. Alarms were suddenly wailing outside, accompanied by a few people shouting.

"What now?!" Berke growled as the krogan flicked a flashlight on. The door that they had entered through suddenly banged open, letting a stream of light in.

"Boss, you better get out here!" Someone shouted from outside.

Berke snarled in annoyance, but both he and the krogan stormed out, leaving Shepard alone with Garrus, who was starting to list dangerously to the side. Blue blood was running down his chest, pooling at the bottom of where his chest plate had been.

"Garrus." Shepard tried to get his attention, but he didn't seem to hear her, gasping for air and weakly trying to stay upright. "Vakarian! Look at me!"

Garrus' head snapped up at her Commander voice, and managed to look at her for a few seconds before his eyes lost focus again. But he was trying.

"You just need to stay awake, okay? Just stay with me!"

As she was trying to keep his attention, a previously unnoticed and blacked-out window behind her was suddenly smashed. Shepard craned her neck, trying to see behind her, and nearly sighed in relief when Tali clambered through.

"Tali, hurry! He's bleeding out!"

Tali yanked a lever on her way by Shepard as she sprinted towards Garrus, who had slumped onto his side on the floor. Whatever had been holding Shepard up lowered her, loosening the cable so her feet hit the ground and gave her enough slack to hit another lever to spring the bindings open. She joined Tali just as the quarian was cracking her last pack of medi-gel open to apply it to the gaping wound in Garrus' chest.

Garrus was still struggling for air and lying awkwardly on his side as Tali worked on him. Shepard quickly sat on the floor and pulled his upper body into her lap, trying to keep his head up to help him breathe more easily. It took her a moment, but she managed to get the bindings off his wrists as well.

By the time Tali finished, the bleeding had mostly stopped again, but the damage had been done in blood loss. Normally the medi-gel also helped wake the soldier up enough to get them through any combat situation they may find themselves in, but Garrus was groggy and obviously not completely aware of his surroundings. Tali snatched the towel from the tray off the table (revealing the torture tools that Shepard had just known would be there) and packed it into the wound as well to make sure that the bleeding couldn't start again.

"Shepard, we need to move. I set off the alarms but it won't take them long to figure out it's a diversion."

“Okay. Just let me grab my armour and our weapons.” Shepard quickly grabbed her armour from the table and started sealing it up again, carefully and discreetly bunching her damaged base suit against the puncture wound in her side again. The heavy punches she had taken had broken it open again, and she could feel warm blood trickling down her side. Fortunately, the black colour hid the blood stain. She would deal with the wound back on the Normandy.

Once ready, Shepard and Tali each got one of Garrus' arms over their shoulders and half carried, half dragged him to the window. It took some manhandling, but they managed to get him out without anyone eating dirt.

The batarians and their variety of minions were still busy in the buildings at the far end of the settlement, and Shepard caught a glimpse of a flaming truck.

"Tali, I thought you said you set off the alarms."

"Well, yes, but I helped a few fuel tanks ignite as well."

"Never change, Tali."

Tali led them to a nearby shop and hit the door opener to reveal several different types of farm equipment parked within. A wave of nostalgia hit Shepard; many of these vehicles were very similar to what her family had operated back on Mindoir.

"I found them earlier." Tali explained, "They're only agricultural vehicles, but I figured they would be easier to steal, as long as we didn't have anyone chasing us. So I decided to disable their vehicles since we couldn't have them anyway."

"Good thinking, Tali. But where are we going to go? We still can't reach the Normandy."

"Oh! I almost forgot. I planted some explosives by the jamming tower, but I didn't want to set them off until I knew where you two were. Here." Tali handed over a small detonator, which Shepard shook her head in marvel at.

“I won’t fog your visor, but I could kiss you, Tali!” Shepard side-hugged Tali around the neck, who gently pushed her off but was obviously smiling under her helmet. They turned to the vehicles lined up in the shed, scouting for one suitable for their needs.

"What about this one? There's room for all of us on the platform." Tali nodded at a self-guided harvester of some sort.

"No, the ladder is too tall to drag Garrus up, and we'd have to figure out how to override its program." Shepard pointed out, and motioned towards a flat-bed truck with a canopy over a couple bench seats in the bed. "Let's take the crew hauler. We'll still have to lift him into the back, but it isn't as high. I'll drive."

"If you're sure..." Tali sounded doubtful, possibly thinking of their many missions in the Mako, but helped get Garrus situated in the back of the truck. The turian was entirely unconscious by now, and didn't even twitch when Shepard checked for a pulse and called his name. His pulse was thready and uneven, spiking her alarm even more.

"Okay, lets get out of here." Shepard clambered into the open cab of the truck from the bed and fired it up. She gunned it, tearing out of the shop and across the field, back towards the mountains.

A few shots rang out, and a quick check confirmed that it was Tali, picking off a few slavers that had spotted them. Once they were clear, Shepard pulled out the detonator that Tali had given her, flicked it open and hit the trigger.

Jane didn't look back, but she heard the explosion and Tali's whoop and took it to mean that it had worked.

"Tali, get on the comms to the Normandy! Tell them we need extraction and send them coordinates."

"Right." Tali called up her omnitool and set to work. Shepard continued towards the mountains with no real destination in mind, more focused on putting distance between them and the slavers. Her thoughts kept going to the occupants of the back of the truck she was driving. While Tali was healthy enough for the time being, Garrus needed serious medical help and now. They had been on this planet for more than 2 days already, and none of them had eaten in all that time.

"Bad news, Shepard." Tali leaned over the edge of the wall that divided the cab of the truck from the back. "Apparently both of the shuttles were damaged by weapons fire when they were searching for us. Joker says it will be at least 2 hours before they can make the rendezvous."

Shepard tried to stay calm. It lasted for about 4 seconds before she slammed a hand down on the steering wheel. "Dammit!"

"I'm sure Cortez will have the shuttles ready as soon as he can." Tali seemed concerned but not surprised at her outburst.

Shepard took a few deep breaths. Her side was twinging now, and she didn't think it was just from hunger pains.

"You're right, Tali. I know it. Just frustrated. Sorry."

"Do you want me to drive for a while? You look tired."

Shepard hesitated, but had to concede Tali's point. She was exhausted, and the abuse that her body had taken over the last couple days was starting to hit her.

"Good idea." Shepard stopped the truck, and checked under the seat before she switched with Tali, hoping for an emergency medical kit. Thankfully, there was a small one there. While it wouldn't completely heal Garrus, it would help.

Shepard clambered into the back and sat with her back to one of the benches so she could have Garrus' head in her lap. He was still unconscious, and didn't stir when the truck got moving again or even when Jane pulled the towel back to apply the small amount of medi-gel that was in the kit. His breathing was slow but steady, and nothing else seemed to have changed in his condition.

Once she had done everything she could, Jane let her shoulder and head lean against the siding that separated the bed from the cab. Now that she was sitting and her body had had time to take an inventory, everything was aching and exhaustion was setting in without mercy. She entwined her fingers in Garrus’ and her eyes slip closed, letting sleep take her.


	5. Chapter 5

Jane slowly awoke. She could hear a river in the distance and birds chirping, as well as someone breathing nearby. She blinked weary eyes open, squinting up at the tarp ceiling above her. It took a moment for her memory to come back, but as soon as it did she found herself trying to bolt up right, frantically looking for Tali and Garrus. Pain lanced through her torso, but she had to find her team.

“Shepard! Shepard, it’s okay!” Tali was suddenly there, trying to push her back down. “Just hold still.”

Jane let herself lie back, and finally relaxed when she realized that Garrus was lying just to her left, head propped up on an old duffel bag that Tali must have found somewhere in the crew hauler. They were still in the back of the truck, but Tali had obviously stopped and arranged her two injured team mates more comfortably. Her chest plate and weave was gone again, and she suspected that it was what her head was resting on. Jane reached out blindly and found Garrus’ hand, and felt a surge of relief when his eyes flickered open.

“Shepard…” Garrus’ voice cracked and he sounded winded, but he managed to turn his head slightly towards her. His condition obviously hadn’t improved, but Jane was glad to see him awake. She didn’t trust her voice at the moment, but she squeezed his hand and he returned the gesture.

Shepard tried to smile, but the pain from her initial wound in her side was starting to overwhelm her. She was starting to suspect that the beating she had taken had maybe done more than just reopen the wound, and that she should maybe admit that to Tali.

When she opened her mouth to say something, Shepard’s throat suddenly filled with fluid and she found herself coughing and gagging. She couldn’t breathe, and the coppery tang in her mouth was telling her that something had gone horribly wrong. Jane weakly struggled, wanting, needing to sit up to catch a breath, but she couldn’t find the strength. Tali was saying something, nearly shouting in her worry, but Jane couldn’t hear past the roaring in her ears.

Tali was pressing on Shepard’s chest, tracing Jane’s bones in her ribcage while holding a giant needle that Jane remembered seeing in the emergency medical kit. Without warning, Tali jabbed the needle into Shepard’s rib cage. Jane blacked out for a second, but when she came to she found she was able to draw a small breath; and then another. It hurt like hell, and felt like one side of her chest was being crushed, but the pressure was easing up and she could breathe. Once she had gotten a few more breaths in and became a little more aware, she realized that Garrus was tightly gripping her hand. She squeezed back weakly, still unable to say anything, but she felt him relax a fraction.

“I knew this would happen!” Tali moaned above her, propping her up a bit and making sure she didn’t topple over. “Shepard, there’s a tiny fragment still embedded in you. I’m pretty sure your flailing around caused it to puncture your lung and collapse it now.”

“Great.” Shepard managed to rasp, but the effort made her cough again, lighting her lungs on fire. She quickly decided she would not be attempting to speak again anytime soon.

Tali dragged her back a few feet so she could lean against the wall between the bed of the truck and cab. Shepard nodded her thanks, focusing on breathing. Unable to reach her hand anymore, Garrus moved his hand to her ankle, obviously unwilling to break contact.

“Just keep breathing, Shepard. The shuttle will be here any minute.” Tali crouched in front of Shepard, running a medical program on her omnitool, and turned to check on Garrus. “And you, Garrus, need to stay awake. Don’t sleep.”

True to Tali’s word, the sound of an approaching shuttle soon reached them. Tali quickly made sure that Shepard wasn’t going to topple over, and jumped out of the back of the truck to visually make sure that it was a Normandy shuttle. Help was almost here.

Jane tried to stifle another cough, but lost that battle. She coughed harshly into the back of her hand, and cringed at the blood flecking her skin. Judging by the difficultly she was having breathing again, she was pretty sure that her right lung had collapsed again, despite Tali’s ministrations. There was always a chance of field medicine only being a temporary fix, but Shepard had been hoping for more than a few minutes. Karin was not going to be happy.

She could see Garrus’ grip on her ankle tighten slightly, but she couldn’t feel anything through her armour. She appreciated the gesture, though, and returned it by laying her own hand on his forehead. He was still much too cool to the touch. Jane didn’t trust her shaking hand to stroke his crest, and had to content herself with simply having contact.

Shepard wasn’t sure how much time passed, but there were suddenly people standing at the back of the truck, peering into the darker interior of the bed under the tarp. Karin Chakwas was the first to climb into the cramped space, crouching beside Garrus and in front of Shepard.

“Commander, when will you ever learn?” Karin was shaking her head even as she worked on her omnitool and began dispensing medi-gel. “No one would begrudge the commander of the ship not going on a mission.”

Shepard just snorted and shook her head, not bothering to voice her disdain at that suggestion. Besides, Chakwas knew full well her opinion on that.

Karin checked a couple more things on her omnitool before addressing the injured team members again.

“Commander, its as Tali suspected: a small piece of debris in your wound has punctured your lung, which has collapsed. I’ll need to do some exploratory surgery back on the Normandy to find the debris.”

Jane nodded, having guessed as much. She noticed Garrus’ grip shift again; obviously the news wasn’t contributing to his calm.

“As for you, Garrus,” Karin continued, “You were very lucky indeed. Tali told me about the metal and its less than ideal removal, but my scans indicate that no major organs were damaged. I suspect at least a nick in the major artery there, and the muscle damage is severe, but I’ll get it patched up once I’ve dealt with the commander.”

Chakwas motioned for Cortez to join them, which didn’t leave much room in the bed of the truck as he clambered in.

“Got yourself into some trouble there, commander?” Cortez said jokingly, but the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. He looked worried, but Shepard offered a tired grin.

“Maybe just a bit.” She rasped before starting coughing again.

“Please, commander, don’t try to talk.” Chakras ordered in exasperation. “Steve, I’ll need you to carry the commander out so that we have room to bring a stretcher in for Garrus.”

“You got it, doc.” Cortez moved to pick Shepard up, threading an arm under her legs and another behind her back. Jane tried very hard to not be annoyed by the treatment, knowing she wouldn’t be able to move under her own power anyway, but she couldn’t help but feel like a child as she was carried out of the truck and onto a waiting stretcher. They propped her as upright as possible and strapped her in, and as they were carting her towards the shuttle, Jane heard a strangled cry from Garrus as they must have moved him onto his own stretcher.

Waiting in the shuttle for the rest of her crew to come aboard was torture. It probably only took a few minutes, but it felt like a lifetime before Tali came aboard and took a seat beside Shepard’s stretcher, exhaustion spelled out in the slump of her shoulders. Garrus was brought on board and placed beside her, where she wasted no time in taking his hand again. He looking like he was on the verge of passing out again, obviously hurting, but he squeezed her hand. Jane quirked a smile at him, glad to be safe and sound in the shuttle on the way back to the Normandy.


	6. Chapter 6

Garrus opened groggy eyes and blinked up at an unfortunately familiar ceiling in the med bay. It took a moment for him to process the events that had brought him here, but it didn’t take long for him to look around for Shepard and Tali. There was no sign of Chakwas or Tali, but Shepard was sitting in the chair on his left that she had dragged over from Karin’s desk. She was in her sweats and hoodie, feet somehow up on the seat with her, head resting on arms folded on the bed beside his hip as she softly snored.

Garrus carefully looked her over, looking for any signs that she should be in a hospital bed of her own. She had a wicked bruise on her face, and her long sleeved civvies hid any other damage from view. There was no sign of an IV, or even a bruise on her hand indicating she had yanked one out, so he decided that Karin must have discharged her already.

He carefully stroked his talons through her hair, trying to stir her without startling her. She soon drowsily lifted her head and stared at him for a moment, then happily grinned at him before punching him in the arm. Hard.

“Ugh, I’d say ‘ow’ but I think Chakwas has me on the good stuff.” Garrus was surprised at how raspy his voice was. “What was that for?”

“Don’t you ever do that to me again.” Shepard groused, trying to be grumpy but clearly glad to see him awake. “Next time, just let my armour and shields take it.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Garrus drawled in the most unconvincing agreement she had ever heard. Jane shot him a look, but got up and shuffled to the desk to get him a cup of water. Once she had helped him take a few sips, his throat felt much better. The rest of his injuries were beginning to make themselves known, but he wasn’t ready to ask for more painkillers yet. His right arm was bandaged and strapped across his chest again, and his shoulder was heavily bandaged.

Shepard looked like she was going to sit again, but he carefully shifted to the right to make more room on the bed. She slipped under the blanket and tucker her front against his side, head resting on his shoulder, but carefully avoiding bandages and previously unnoticed tubes that seemed to run everywhere. Garrus wrapped his good arm around her and let his gaze trace up the tubbing to where the IV bags hung over his head. There was a monitor there as well, silently recording his vital signs, and he wondered how long he had been there.

“Almost three days now.” He wasn’t sure if he had wondered out loud or if Shepard was just reading him again. “You’ve been out of it most of the time. Chakwas didn’t have much turian blood on board for you, so she says you’re gonna feel like crap for a couple more days until your body can replenish it on its own.”

Garrus hummed in response, too weary to find the words. His eyelids were getting heavy, and her warm body against his was making it difficult to fight off the oncoming sleepiness. It felt like it had been ages since he had been warm in a bed, though he could distinctly remember being tucked up in Shepard’s cabin only 2 days prior. While it had felt awkward at first, Garrus had quickly adjusted and felt more at home there than anywhere else on the Normandy, with the possible exception of the main guns calibration room. Maybe he could convince Chakwas and Shepard to let him sleep and heal up in the cabin… Once he had slept just a little more.

“Get some sleep, G.” Shepard sleepily nuzzled into his side, obviously close to sleep herself. “We earned it.”

———  
The end

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading and for all your lovely comments!


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